Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations Signed Into Law

The FY09 omnibus appropriations bill was signed into law today, following a 62-35 Senate vote last night and a statement by President Obama that the earmark process needs to be reformed during the FY10 appropriations process. According to the President, many congressionally directed appropriations (also known as earmarks) serve legitimate public needs, but a few suspect projects have brought about a negative view of the practice. Most of the President’s suggestions on earmark reform center around transparency, like requiring Members of Congress to publically post their earmark requests on a website. Additionally, the President stated that earmarks directed to private for-profit organizations should be subject to the same competitive bidding process as other federal contracts. It is expected, as stated recently by the President’s budget chief Peter Orszag, that future appropriations bills will have fewer requests for earmarks.

The FY09 omnibus appropriations bill included some increases of note for the academic community, including:

A maximum appropriated Pell Grant award of $4,860, an increase of $119 over FY08

Funding for the GAANN and Javits Fellowships programs will be $41 million, an increase of $2 million, or 4% over the FY08 level

Funding for International Education Programs rises to $119 million, an increase of $10 million or more than 9% above the FY08 funding level

NIH, $30.3 billion –an increase of $938 million over FY08

Chart -In millions of dollars

Component

FY08 ($)

FY09 Omnibus ($)

Difference ($)

% Change

NIH

29,379.0

30,317.0

938.0

3.19

OD

1,109.0

1,247.0

138.0

12.44

NIA

1,045.0

1,081.0

36.0

3.44

NIAAA

435.6

450.2

14.6

3.35

NIAID

4,264.0

4,403.0

139.0

3.26

NIAMS

507.7

524.8

17.1

3.37

NCI

4,802.0

4,969.0

167.0

3.48

NICHD

1,252.0

1,295.0

43.0

3.43

NIDCD

393.4

407.3

13.9

3.53

NIDCR

389.5

402.7

13.2

3.39

NIDDK

1,704.0

1,761.0

57.0

3.35

NIDA

1,002.0

1,033.0

31.0

3.09

NIEHS

648.2

662.8

14.6

2.25

NEI

666.0

688.0

22.0

3.30

NIGMS

1,933.0

1,998.0

65.0

3.36

NHLBI

2,921.0

3,016.0

95.0

3.25

NHGRI

502.8

502.4

-0.4

-0.08

Fogarty

66.5

68.7

2.2

3.34

NLM

321.2

330.8

9.6

2.99

NIMH

1,407.0

1,450.0

43.0

3.06

NINDS

1,541.0

1,593.0

52.0

3.37

NINR

137.3

141.9

4.6

3.35

NCRR

1,148.0

1,226.0

78.0

6.79

NCMHHD

199.2

206.0

6.8

3.41

NCCAM

121.3

125.5

4.2

3.46

NIBIB

298.1

308.2

10.1

3.39

ARHQ

334.5

372.1

37.6

11.24

NASA, $17.7 billion –an increase of $380 million or 2.2% over FY08

Science, $4.5 billion –a decrease $203.2 million or 4.3% from FY08

NSF, $6.49 billion –an increase of $362 million or 5.9% over FY08

Research and Related Activities, $5.18 billion –an increase of $339 million or 7% over FY08

Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, $152 million –a decrease of $68.7 million or 31.1% from FY08

Education and Human Resources, $845.3 million –an increase of $119.7 million or 16.5% over FY08

DoE Office of Science, $4.72 billion –an increase of $754 million or 18.8% over FY08